The present invention relates to articles of furniture or casegoods, such as desks, cabinets, storage units, wardrobes and the like, and, more particularly, to a lock system for such articles of furniture.
A wide variety of lock systems have been proposed for casegoods such as desks, file cabinets, credenzas, wardrobes and the like which have a plurality of drawers, doors and the like. It is desirable to lock all drawers or doors from a single remote location. In a typical system, an elongated, rigid metal lock bar or rod is provided. The bar is mounted in the article of furniture for vertical movement between unlocked and locked positions. The bars support a plurality of lock pins or studs. Catches mounted on the individual drawers and doors engage the studs to prevent opening thereof when the lock rod is in the locked position. Generally, such systems are gravity dependent. Gravity returns the bar to the unlocked position.
Prior systems have been difficult to integrate into different articles of furniture which include multiple drawers, doors and the like at different locations. Such systems include multiple rigid components which have presented installation problems and reliability problems. Such prior systems, due to their inherent weight, have not interfaced well with both manual and electrical or electronic lock systems. The weight of such systems has required relatively large and powerful solenoid actuators. In addition, problems are experienced with integrating such prior systems into wood furniture. Warpage, wood chips, particles, shavings and the like in the wood panels and tops of such articles of furniture may cause the mechanism to bind thereby preventing proper operation. An example of one prior lock system including a rigid locking bar may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,236 entitled PEDESTAL DESK WITH DRAWER LOCK, which issued on Nov. 10, 1970 to Miller.
In many casegood applications, such as in vertical and lateral filing cabinets, a need exists for an interlock mechanism. Such a mechanism prevents opening of more than one drawer at a time. This reduces the possibility of cabinet tipping. Prior interlock systems have taken many different forms. Such systems have not generally been easily added or integrated with a lock system. Existing interlocks may suffer from additional problems relating to complexity, difficulty in assembly and duplication of parts. In many prior approaches, the interlock mechanism is completely independent in operation from that of the cabinet lock mechanism. Examples of prior interlock and lock systems may be found in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,309 entitled DRAWER LOCK AND INTERLOCK MECHANISM, which issued on Oct. 2, 1990 to Scheerhorn; commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,638 entitled DRAWER INTERLOCK, which issued on Mar. 26, 1974 to Faiks; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,929 entitled INTERLOCKING OF SELECTED UNITS OF A STORAGE SYSTEM, which issued on Oct. 8, 1968 to Wright et al.
A need exists for a lock system which provides reliable remote locking and unlocking of drawers, doors and the like and which may be easily and readily integrated into a full range of articles of furniture, including desks, credenzas, file cabinets, bins, wardrobes and other casegoods. A need exists for a system which may be manufactured at reduced cost, which reduces installation errors, interfaces well with manual and electrical or electronic lock actuators, which readily accommodates warpage and the like found in wood furniture and which easily provides an interlock function.